I had never taken an environmental studies or environmental science course before ENVS 160, so I went into the class feeling unprepared and behind compared to many of my classmates. However, the concepts introduced in this course are new to everyone, and shake everyone’s ways of thinking. Over the course of ENVS 160, I have learned many new theories that have made me question some of the ideals I previously held. ENVS 160 introduced to me an entirely new perspective on how to approach the environment in general as well as many of the challenges facing the environment. Over the course of this class a broad range of viewpoints are presented through reading and discussion and true understanding is developed through synthesizing this information into an understanding of what environmental studies means to each student.
Why We Disagree About Climate Change
This course takes off at full speed, jumping into Mike Hulme’s Why We Disagree About Climate Change. Mike Hulme discusses the connections between people’s cultural backgrounds and their environmental ideals. Each chapter of this book introduces a new connection between culture and climate, providing a large breadth of information, so this book has the potential to be very daunting. Because of this, the reading guides that Professor Proctor provides for each chapter are crucial to honing in and focusing on certain important concepts.
Many environmentalists, including myself prior to taking this course, believe in the idea of nature as pure and in a state where “the slightest perturbance by humanity can trigger a collapse in the system,” believing that nature would be better off if humans just left it alone (Hulme 2009, 190). Another commonly held ideal by environmentalists is the belief in the deficit model, the theory that people disagree because they have inadequate understanding of a particular issue (Hulme 2009, 218). After taking ENVS 160 however, I have been forced to rethink these concepts, ideas I had taken for granted previously.
In conjunction with reading this text, students formed teams and did a survey regarding climate change opinion and how it differs around Portland. The class data revealed some interesting trends.
Making the Modern World
Next, the class takes on Making the Modern World by Vaclav Smil. For many, this was the most challenging book of the course as it deals heavily in numerical data and figures. This book details various analyses of the material goods we use in the world today.
To apply Smil’s ideas, the next team project revolved around situating minerals around the globe. Through this project, the class discovered that materials’ impacts on place are shared between the environment and the people living there. Many groups explored the deep impacts that these minerals had on the cultures of their sites, and the class was surprised to see the depth and complexity of the processes that bring us the products we use every day.
Classic and Contemporary Environmental Thought
The next section of the class explored the differences between classic (traditional) and contemporary (modern) environmental thought. This section focused on a variety of shorter texts pertaining to both schools of thought rather than on one book. For example, Garrett Hardin’s essay “The Tragedy of the Commons” was provided as a prime example for classic environmental thought. Being the most cited environmental work, understanding this document is key to building a solid foundation from which to form one’s own ideas. However, despite being the most cited environmental work, ENVS 160 brings Hardin’s ideas under scrutiny, asking students to evaluate the concept that essentially every person is self serving and this is what results in overuse of the earth’s resources (Hardin 1968).
Classic texts such as these are read in conjunction with contemporary pieces, giving students a chance to analyze both types of environmental thought and see which one their views align more with. Prior to this course my ideas had always fallen more in line with the classic side, but once presented with the contemporary ideas of human interaction with the environment being used as a force for conservation and the benefit of the environment, I reconsidered some of my opinions. Contemporary thought embraces the use of technology and rejects the more hands-off approach to environmental issues that classic environmentalism favors.
The team project that accompanied this section explored the interactions between classic and contemporary thought in regards to specific environmental movements, such as the Ecofeminist movement. Seeing the contrast between these viewpoints led many students to rethink their environmental views.
Who Rules the Earth?
ENVS 160 wraps up with the book Who Rules the Earth? by Paul Steinberg. This book advocates for institutional-level environmental action in order to make effective change, stating that “isolated individual actions are fine and well, but are simply inadequate given the size of the challenge” (Steinberg 2015, 219). Steinberg makes the claim that the best way to make actual change is by changing the social rules that govern the behavior of humans on a societal-level, and he details a variety of ways in which to accomplish this throughout the book.
Before ENVS 160 I had always heard the mantra “reduce, reuse, and recycle” in the context of how each person can help change the world. However, after reading Who Rules the Earth? I understand that, while these individual actions are fine, real change starts with institutions. The class analyzed the information presented in this book in four posts (1, 2, 3, and 4) regarding how the ideas presented here altered our thinking.
Overall, ENVS 160 is very different from any other introductory-level class. This class does not ease you into a subject, but rather jumps straight into the important material. Because this class gets straight to the point, many students find themselves questioning the ideas they had taken for granted before. Be prepared to rethink your ideals, and good luck!
Bibliography
Hardin, Garrett. “The Tragedy of the Commons.” Science 162, no. 3859 (December 13, 1968): 1243–48. doi:10.1126/science.162.3859.1243.
Hulme, Mike. 2009. Why We Disagree about Climate Change: Understanding Controversy, Inaction and Opportunity. Cambridge University Press.
Smil, Vaclav. 2014. Making the Modern World: Materials and Dematerialization. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Steinberg, Paul F. 2015. Who Rules the Earth?: How Social Rules Shape Our Planet and Our Lives. Oxford University Press.